so so so ballsy

Brave Democratic Officials Decide Keeping Tax Cuts Too Hard

Democrats came back from their August recess and were finally going to do something! They were going to extend Bush’s tax cuts for the middle class! But apparently it is now too scary for the party that once dropped an actual atomic bomb on its opponents to bring this thing to a vote of any kind, so they’re leaving this until after the November elections. And now they will return to their districts and complain about the minority party, who can now apparently stop an idea as soon as it pops up into a Democrat’s brain, without so much as even a cloture vote.

Jonathan Chait:

Here’s the really crazy thing. Moderate Democrats worry that passing a tax cut for income under $250,000 would be portrayed as a tax hike, because it allows rates to rise on income over $250,000. As I’ve noted several times, that could be solved by holding a separate vote. But the moderate Democrats’ solution is not to hold a vote on any tax cuts. In other words, they’re worried that failing to vote on a tax cut for the rich will be portrayed as a tax hike on the middle class. Answer: decide not to vote on a tax hike for the middle class either.

Voters are going to be misled, so why even bother doing what the voters would want if they took a second to try to figure out the truth? Well, perhaps some voters do try to look for the truth. And now those voters have no reason to bother to show up to the polls.

If Democrats don’t stand up for what they believe in, eventually they’ll get what they believe in and they’ll get to keep their jobs, right? That’s how things work?